


Vengeance Above All

by catherinewestwood



Category: Birds of Prey (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 15:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14216595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinewestwood/pseuds/catherinewestwood
Summary: With Supergirl under direct attack, it's up to her merry band of friends to find a cure. But with her life hanging in the balance, will some people go too far? What happens when revenge takes on a life of its own?





	Vengeance Above All

**Author's Note:**

> I realized this week that it had been a year since I'd written anything, and that shocked me. I had committed to write a companion piece to one of my other Supergirl pieces, and time flew away. So, as a mea culpa, I wrote this long-ish story. While this is part 1, part 2 will be up soon (as in, the next few days. No, really). I hope this serves as somewhat of a peace offering while I work on that promised companion piece. Gracias!

The news clip plays on a loop: Supergirl hit by a mysterious beam of light, and falling to Earth. Falling, falling, falling. A roundtable of "experts" are now on cable TV debating what could have happened, how Supergirl is doing now, and what this means for National City and the world. Lena's eyes are rimmed with exhaustion and numbness. Even though the TV is on mute, it's all she can do not to throw the remote at the screen. Her energy, what little lefts of it, is needed for a solution.

She glances through the windows to where Kara Danvers is in DEO's version of the ICU, hooked up to so many machines. Lena squints to make out the heartbeat monitor and the brainwaves screen; even as she is heartened by the former, the latter is depressing in its output. Alex Danvers, a woman who always becomes a shell of her former self when her sister struck down, walks into the room. Winn and James look to her with a undertow of hope so powerful, Lena can feel it. Alex closes her eyes and exhales before saying, "Best as we can tell, she's in a coma. We don't know precisely know why, maybe her body shut down as a protection mechanism. We're trying to locate where the blast came from using 3D imaging. If we can trace where it came from..."

Has it only been two hours since Supergirl fell on to the streets of National City, creating a gigantic crater with the force of her impact? Lena closes her eyes. Her voice is a hoarse whisper when she asks, "What can we do?"

Alex looks at her, almost at a loss. "Know anything about vector imaging?" Lena nods, so Alex points in the direction of the neighboring room. "There's a team in there trying to work out the angles of the weapon strike to find the source of the attack. Can you help?"

Lena says nothing, just taps Winn on the shoulder and he looks at her with solemnity. Without any words, they both get up to go find out what caused the most serious upheaval in their lives since they met Kara Danvers.

____________________________

_Friendship was never meant to blossom into something more; Lena was satisfied to be friends with Kara Danvers. If she had ever looked too long at the reporter or smiled too widely when Kara did something sweet, well, that was just a minor problem. Honestly, she really did not want to become one of those women who couldn't just have female friends without also having feelings for them. Thankfully, Lena did have female friends for whom she felt true fondness and love, in a totally appropriate manner. She was in control around Kara, but it was true that the reporter had been her first friend in National City and had done so much to make her move to a new city more welcome. Well. Sometimes, one couldn't control what crazy hoops one's heart decided to jump through._

_It was widely accepted that Lena was very, very smart. So it only took a few run-ins with National City's designated Super to put the pieces together. Really, it all came down to probability: what were the chances that two people in the same city had the same scar in the same place on their forehead? What were the chances that two people had extremely similar facial structures and body language? What were the chances that two people who shared all these characteristics also entered her life around the same time and befriended her in different ways? Putting her smarts to use, Lena had actually run a probability simulator with the coincidences as mathematical inputs, and the results only told her what she already knew. Since then, she had held her tongue and tried, she had really tried, not to be hurt by Kara's reticence; it had made all sorts of logical sense for Kara not to share her secret identity with her, but hadn't they been through multiple tests of character already and each passed with flying colors?_

_Ultimately, it had all came to a head in an utterly predictable manner: One too many rescues by either for the other, one too many instances of keeping Lena safe at all costs, or Lena using herself as bait for bad guys. Kara's built-up exasperation had turned into anger, and everything had come tumbling out in a battle of wills._

_Lena had been shouting then. "I don't think you, of all people, should accuse me of having a deathwish!"_

_Supergirl had her elbows at her hips and wasn't backing down. "What is that supposed to mean?"_

_Adrenalin from another near-death experience (and Lena didn't miss the irony) had her temper bubbling to the surface, and she pinched her nose to focus breathe deeply. Her voice was a bereft whispher when she said, "Nothing. Forget what I said."_

_"No, Lena. Don't shut me out. I'm just really worried about you. These attempts to lure Lex's henchmen out of the shadows--"_

_Lena looked up then and decided to let Kara have it between the eyes. "Why do you care?"_

_Kara shifted at the sudden question but managed to catch the worst of her stutter. "What? Lena, I, I believe in you. I thought we were...friends."_

_Lena just stared at her, really not wanting to push her luck. But a combination of exhaustion, anger, hurt, and a cocktail of other emotions still thrumming her system. She walked over to her desk, and logged into her computer. She quickly scanned through her files, found what she was looking for, bypassed additional security measures that she had implemented before pulling up the file she had been looking for. She turned the monitor to face Supergirl, and then walked away to the wet bar across the room. If Kara were going to lie to her now, Lena would need all the bourbon she had on hand to fortify her._

_Kara leaned down to look at what looked like a complicated mathematical model; as advanced as Earth's math was, it didn't hold much of a candle to Krypton's. Within a couple of minutes, Kara stiffened as she understood just what she was looking at. She closed her eyes and felt emotions hurtle through her body: fear at having been caught, amusement at Lena's use of science, and hopelessness over losing another person she cared deeply for due to her identity. She turned around and saw that Lena was looking at her, as if Lena wished she could see through Kara. The CEO raised her chin as if she was ready to take it on the chin were Kara to deny fact, whereas Kara could only focus on the wet sheen on Lena's lips from the bourbon._

_Kara didn't know exactly what she was going to do as she bridged the gap between them but she saw Lena swallow thickly. Ultimately, instinct took over her body and Kara leaned in to brush the back of her fingers against the apple of Lena's cheek. "I'm sorry," Kara said, emotion blocking her throat. "I never meant to hurt you."_

_Lena closed her eyes, and leaned into the touch, and she really didn't want to open her eyes and deal with whatever came next; the relief that Kara wasn't going to lie to her was enough for now. But then she felt arms come around her, and Lena dropped her drink without a second thought even as she was enveloped by strong arms. The tears came then, quickly and violently, as Lena felt relief rise to the top and conquer the eddy of emotions raging within her. She distantly heard Kara comforting her but couldn't make out the exact words apart._

_And they had never looked back._

 

_____________________________

 

Everything has a glowing tinge to it and at first, her surroundings seems unfamiliar. There are mountains, lakes, and forests. She's in some sort of room with a view to this glorious landscape. Except everything in her view is slightly off: the lakes are an unnatural shade of blue; the leaves on the trees are tinged red; the mountain itself is a foreboding black. Kara looks around the room she's in and there's technology here that seems simultaneously very futuristic yet vaguely familiar. There's an inkling at the back of her mind, a noise of warning worming its way through her brain and her adrenalin starts to rise. Before she can react, the futuristic doors across the room swish open without noise, and a woman dressed in pale, silken robes walks in.

Kara's heart stops in her chest. "Mom?"

Alura smiles and it is so beatific that Kara's heart kickstarts in to overdrive. "Kara. It's  _so_  good to see you again, my child."

And before she can even think through her actions, instinct kicks in and Kara's running into her mother's arms.

____________________________

It's all a matter of physics and with two hours of Winn and Lena combining their mental resources with the DEO team, they have it figured it out: The blast came from the roof of a building with a complicated ownership structure. Soon they're poring over financial documents and ownership registrations. It takes another four hours and some illegal hacking to sort through numerous shell companies.

Lena rubs her forehead. "This is insane, this level of corporate subterfuge should be illegal."

Winn just looks at her. "But..."

"What, Winn?"

"Don't a  _lot_  of conglomerates do this these days?"

Lena looks at him and her fatigue is getting the best of her because ice begins to coat her tone. "Is that an accusation?"

Everyone else in the room just hunches over their own laptops, not wanting to get drawn in. Winn sags. "No, Lena. It's a statement."

Lena clenches her jaw. "I'm against this bullshit. Complicated layers of holdings or shielding subsidiaries." Then the weight of it all sinks further down on her shoulders. "But I'm sure Lex has crafted portions of L Corp similarly. I haven't had time..."

Winn places his hand on her shoulder. "Lena. You're one of us. I wasn't--"

"I know. Let's just get back to finding out who the hell is in charge here."

Winn nods and goes back to reading articles of incorporation while Lena's going through SEC filings. Their research takes them through some of the common geographies: Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Switzerland. Lena squeezes her eyes together feeling the dryness like sandpaper. Six hours later, they find the culprit and they both lean back in their chairs, floating on a new level of exhaustion. 

Winn's voice is a combination of furious and resigned. "It seems obvious now, doesn't it?"

Lena says nothing as she stares up at the large computer screen in front of them that displays the picture of the culprit: Maxwell Lord. 

Seventeen hours later, the DEO's Special Forces have captured the elusive billionaire, who is now currently handcuffed in one of the DEO's interrogation rooms. A few people are on the outside of the room, hotly debating what tactic to use. Lena's got her arms crossed just staring at Max, and all she sees is a small man with far too much power. She's not sure she's ever felt this molten bit of boiling anger at another human being, not even Lex. She wishes she could get her hands around his neck so that she could slowly choke the life out of him. She knows she's not alone in that impulse but she tunes back into the conversation to hear Lucy Lane cautioning Alex. 

"Alex, torture isn't going to work on him."

Alex turns on her, incredulity written clearly on her face. "I don't care, Lucy. He hurt my sister. If I have to kill him, it will be worth it."

Hank Henshaw intervenes. "Stand down, both of you. None of us is going in there. I've called someone in to help."

Everyone turns to him but it's Alex who's most enraged by an outsider entering the situation, and she gets to the most immediate question first. "Who?"

He takes a deep breath. "Barbara Gordon."

Lena scrunches her forehead. "Who?"

Lucy Lane is the one who responds. "Not who, what. The Oracle."

____________________

_If being friends with a Super were to court danger, dating one would be to invite disaster. Well, dating might be a generous term for what they were doing: Lena and Kara still maintained an outward appearance of true friendship -- long lunches, well-placed interview sound bites, sharing intel about nefarious persons -- but away from common areas, Lena's apartment had become their retreat from the world. As the weeks wore on and diabolical plans continued to be defused with hair-raisingly last minute solutions (really, all par for the course), they somehow had found time to escalate their relationship._

_Their first time had been a nerve-wrackingly bumbling mess as they both fought through hands that trembled with nervousness and stammered whispers of instruction. Lena had felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest the whole time and she'd been quietly peeved that her confident, ball-busting daytime persona had completely been replaced by that of a blushing virgin's. The only comfort had been Kara being similarly afflicted; Lena still smiled whenever she thought of how Kara's desire had resulted in completely shredding Lena's very expensive top, which had led to a whole minute of stumbled apologies before Lena had simply kissed her and told her (in one of the many halting confessions of the night) that she had liked it._

_Of course, things got better from there. They had learned to be confident with each other, and Lena had been extremely relieved that her confidence and, dare she say, cockiness came back to her over time. Soon, she could leave Kara breathless when she properly used her arched eyebrow. And when Kara had stalked towards her in Super suit with all that swagger of a triumphant night, Lena actually exhaled in anticipation, which had been made all the worse because Kara could hear it from across the room._

_But what had surprised Lena the most was the balance in the situation: For Kara's physical strength, Lena had wiles; for Lena's wealth, Kara had kindness; for Kara's danger, Lena had almost as much danger; for Lena's insecurities, Kara had twice as many with half as much cause. So they were, to Lena's continued surprise, imminently compatible. Well, as along as no one found out about them._

_When worries about what would happen in the future, or what would happen when people found out about them, or what would happen when Alex discovered what had been going on, Lena found succor in those rare occasions that Kara was able to stay over. It was a cliche, but, unfortunately for Lena, it was true that Lena was a sucker for hope; that while being metaphorically punched (and, okay, once for real by a bad guy) repeatedly throughout her life had necessitated her seeming prickly and unreachable exterior, it was easy enough for someone as earnest as Kara to snake her way through what now looked like a porous wall of Lena's defenses. On those nights, if Lena had woken up with a start, which she often did given all that she had been through in her young life, it had been the ability to trace Kara's shoulder blade with a gentle finger, or whisper a kiss over her lover's forehead, or run her fingers through all that hair that calmed her._

_Lena was a sucker for hope, and she had found herself wishing for nothing with as much desperation as for this happiness to continue, to build, to bloom._

__________________________

Upon first glance, Lena isn't too impressed by Barbara Gordon. By now, she's been told repeatedly that Ms. Gordon is not only a certified genius and has an eidetic memory, but she's formerly a star gymnast and, most formidably, Batgirl. Until the Joker put an end to her days of racing across rooftops. Lena is even less sure of Barbara's partner, Helena Kyle. Lena is doubtful about the pair's purported effectiveness seeing as Helena is dressed, to Lena's mind, like a Hot Topic reject. While Hank handles the introductions and expresses his profound gratitude for their getting here so quickly, Helena catches Lena's eye and smiles. Lena is so taken aback by the cheshire cat grin directed her that she ducks her head and curses the blush that she knows is crawling up her cheeks. It must be the exhaustion. When she looks back up, Helena winks at her and then nonchalantly rejoins the conversation with Hank. While Lena silently chastises herself for behaving like a schoolgirl, it's decided that Barbara and Helena will interview Max; in addition to Barbara's skills and Helena's meta powers, they both also have the advantage of surprise. 

When Barbara and Helena first enter the interrogation room, Barbara takes point by wheeling herself across from Max while Helena slouches against a corner of the room, the very picture of insouciance. Lena tries to lean forward to hear what Barbara is whispering to Max but she only catch a word here and there. Within three minutes, Max is openly sobbing and pleading for clemency. From inside the room, Helena smiles with pride as she looks at the one-way mirror where Hank, Lucy, Winn, Lucy, James, and Lena are watching from the outside. To a man, Lena and her friends are in justifiable shock at how quickly Barbara broke him; Lena is officially impressed. 

An hour's worth of interrogation later, Barbara is debriefing them. "Your standard case of extreme xenophobia combined with a God complex," Barbara says with a deep undertow of disgust. Then she turns towards Lucy. "Unfortunately, it seems like your father was involved in building the weapon."

Lucy sags into herself and tries absorb the blow. "I suspected. He's..."

"An evil man," Alex interrupts, rubbing Lucy's shoulder in comfort. "Don't worry, we're going to get him."

Barbara looks down at her notes. "Yes but for right now, I need some time to figure out exactly how this weapon works. Only then can I figure out how to help Supergirl. As best as I can understand, it seems like it somehow works on the alien portion of Kara's biology to put her brain into some sort of protective stasis measure, leaving her body defenseless."

Hank frowns. "I'm going to check on the alien chatter to see if anyone had a hand in building this. They had to have some help, whether intentional or coerced. Ms. Gordon, how long would you need?"

She rubbed her forehead. "I don't know, Director. At least ten hours, maybe up to a day. I need to hack into his system and get the schematics, and then understand how its mechanism works." The disappointment was palpable at how much had to be done, even by the mighty Oracle, before there was more headway to helping Kara. 

"Alright, anything you need, please let me know. We've set you up with credentials for our command center; you have access to everything we've got. In the meantime, I want everyone in this room to get at least four hours of shut-eye."

Alex starts to disagree but Hank is unmoved, making eye contact with each of them. "That is not a request, Agent Danvers. Everyone. Four hours. Go."

The gang slowly disperses, but Lena sneaks her way to Kara's designated ICU unit only to find Alex already there, watching from the window outside it. She tentatively puts her arm around Alex and is a little shocked when Alex leans into her, putting her head on Lena's shoulder. They are quiet as if all they want to do is draw strength from the unmoving woman lying in the hospital bed inside the room. They're not sure how much time passes but then Lena says, her voice gravely with fatigue. "C'mon, Alex. We need rest."

It's a testament to how far they've come that Alex only nods and leads the way to the team's bunk beds.

________________________

_Their first fight as a couple had been about when and why to tell the others. Unfortunately, Kara had brought it up on the evening of an extremely long day with Lena just having wrapped up a gigantic presentation to her Board of Directors and getting approval for only half of the changes she wanted to make. So, to recap: Lena had been tired, frustrated, worn down, and more than a little angry already._

_"I think we should tell Alex. I think she would be supportive," Kara had said._

_Lena did not want to think about waging yet another charm offensive given how her day had gone. "Kara, don't you think it's a bit early for that?" She winced as soon as the words left her mouth -- after all, she was far from her best right then -- but it had been too late._

_Kara pulled back a little. "What do you mean?"_

_Now that she had stuck her foot in it, Lena had tried to extricate herself as gently as her dwindling patience would allow. "I just mean...It's been a few weeks."_

_"Yes. And?"_

_Lena sighed audibly. "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. I'm not really at my best. Do you think we can talk about this tomorrow, or over the weekend?"_

_"But...What you're saying, you're not sure...?"_

_"Kara," Lena grated out, straining for the last of her patience, "please can we talk about this later? I'm not saying anything right now. I just think this can wait." Oh, great. From the frying pan into the fire._

_"So it's not important?"_

_And her tether snapped. "No, what I'm saying is that I'm really tired and I'm not in the mood to discuss this right now."_

_Kara was used to pushing with her adversaries, and now that she also felt hurt, old instincts came rushing back, which didn't help matters at all. "Fine, you let me know when you're ready. I'm going to go. There's a bunch of car alarms going off downtown."_

_Lena saw through the lie but given how this conversation was going, she let her emotions get the better of her yet again when she let the condescension pad every word, "Yes. Go. Run away."_

_Even as she felt the flutter of a cape snapping out the window, Lena sat down on her very comfortable couch and let her head fall between her knees. "Fuck," she whispered to herself. A bad day had compounded itself but she couldn't bring herself to apologize; she had asked, more than once, for some breathing room tonight. And Kara had pushed and pushed...Lena could feel a tear roll down her cheek and she brushed it away quickly. It wasn't her fault, she wasn't to blame, dammit._

_It took two days of radio silence before reality necessitated their being in the same area again. Alex had requested that Lena come to the DEO to help with a rogue vigilante. Kara wasn't there because she was out fighting said vigilante and soon enough, with some hacking help and ingenious problem-solving, the threat had been contained. Even as Kara was handing over the asset to the DEO agents at the site, Lena had wanted to ensure she left the DEO before her lover arrived; it wasn't mature but it was safe. Lena had walked at a quick clip to her makeshift locker -- after so many visits to help the DEO, Alex had joked that Lena should leave her toothbrush and a few toiletries there, and to everyone's surprise, including Lena's, the CEO had taken Alex up on it -- so that she could get her handbag before leaving. Even as she opened the locker door, she could feel the energy change in the room, and Lena didn't have turn around to know Kara had arrived. Lena squeezed her eyes shut, knowing if she turned around to face Kara, she would probably crumble and apologize for everything._

_But it was Kara who spoke first. "I'm sorry."_

_Lena exhaled and her shoulders sagged with the weight of their distance. She didn't turn around, although she nodded. "Me too," she whispered. And just like that, Lena felt peace quiver in her heart._

_She felt Kara carefully come up behind her. "May I?" Kara asked with such gentleness that tears formed at the corner of Lena's eyes. Instead of answering, Lena turned around and launched herself into her lover's arms, kissing Kara with fervor. Lena knew her lover's adrenalin would still be riding high after her fight but Kara's hands were gentle as they roamed over Lena's back. But Lena didn't want solicitude; she guided Kara's hands to her ass just as Lena jumped to wrap her legs around Kara's waist. "Take me to bed," Lena growled, not wanting to indulge in the difficult conversation right now; she was, after all, a woman of action. "And don't be gentle. Please," Lena whispered, and she knew she had her victory when Kara's eyes darkened._

_"What if someone--"_

_"You'll hear them a mile away. Let's go," Lena growled even as she undulated her hips against Kara's abs, and the hero took the hint. Sometimes, words were just too complicated, and Lena needed a more visceral form of communication right now to assuage her bruised heart. And with the way Kara casually gripped her wrists above her head  with just one hand even as her other ripped Lena's skirt off, Lena knew that Kara felt similarly._

 ___________________________

 As Lena stares into the darkness while lying on a DEO-issue cot, she remembers the last time she had spent time on one, and it was during that very successful make up experience with Kara. Tears leak out of her eyes now, tracking their way on the sides of her face on to the pillow. The past two days have taken more out of her than any other crisis thus far; something about this particular malady feels different, more pernicious. She texts Jess to hold all non-essential paper for her signature and to clear her week. Lena knows her L-Corp work has been completely shunted aside and she is the CEO of a giant, complicated conglomerate. More than ever, she feels the futility in being pulled in too many directions. The questions swirling her mind are simple: Would she ever hear Kara giggling next to her when they were on the couch watching another hilariously bad B-movie? Would she would ever huff mightily before acquiescing to be the little spoon (and, secretly, liking it) when they slept? Would they ever team up again against the gang on Game Night, shouting down calls of unfair advantage? Could she keep this schedule of being CEO and DEO-consultant and Kara's lover? Did something have to give? And, if yes, what would it be?  

Before she can descend into further moroseness, she hears a flurry of noise outside the door, and she can't stop herself from rising even as her heart hammered and adrenalin chased any deep thoughts from her mind. She did not expect what she's seeing but nothing about the last 48 hours had gone according to plan: Superman, carrying a gigantic box easily in one hand, bending down to shake Barbara's hand with the other. 

"What's going on?" Lena asks, voice rough from the edges of sleep. 

Barbara looks up. "I found a potential way forward, and I needed his help," she said, head tilting towards Superman. 

Lena's heart rate speeds up, something like hope flaring in her chest. "A solution?"

Barbara cocked her head to the side, glancing at Helena for a moment. "Something like that. We'll need the team."

"I'll get them," Lena says, walking towards the rooms with the other bunk beds. 

Ten minutes later, the team -- in varying states of sleepy exhaustion -- are standing in front of Barbara. Helena stays at the back of the room, as ever willing to play second fiddle in the situation. 

Barbara visibly takes a deep breath. "Having seen the schematics and the underlying system, this is a complex weapon. In reviewing the data, my preliminary suggestion would be to try the Kryptonian equivalent to electroshock therapy."

Lena's eyes go wide, and Alex seems a hair's breadth from losing it. "What?" says Winn, not wanting to hear what he was hearing.

Lucy jumps in before anyone else can, shooting daggers at Barbara. "What is the Kryptonian equivalent of ECT?"

Barbara doesn't blanche but she does sigh. "As best as I can assess right now, and I want to stress that it's what I've garnered thus far, given that Kara's physical vitals are normal, her brain waves are normal, but she hasn't gained conscious, she would need a jolt so powerful that her body and mind would have no choice but to gain consciousness. So, I am proposing that we introduce a stimulus impactful enough to create that shock to her system."

There is utter silence. Lena covers her mouth with her hand and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. She knows what this meant but it is Hank that voiced the conclusion: "Kryptonite. You want to put Kryptonite in her." 

"Unfortunately, that's the only thing I can think of. Which is why I asked for Superman's help. He identified and retrieved the last Kryptonite piece big enough to be of use," Barbara says, once again nodding toward Metropolis's own hero. 

Superman steps forward. "I know this is an extremely painful option to consider but having gone over the available intel with Ms. Gordon, there isn't anything else right now."

Barbara looks at the group of friends who would clearly die for Supergirl. "But that isn't to say with more time, I couldn't try to come up with other options. However, there is a risk for atrophy given that the longer Kara remains unconscious, the more her mind could attach itself to its illusions, making it that much harder for her to acclimatize once again with this reality."

No one speaks for a few moments. Alex hangs her head and rubs her forehead, quickly dashing her knuckles over an eye, surreptitiously wiping away a tear. But her voice is clear, if rough, when she says, "What does this actually mean? How is this going to happen?"

Barbara presses her lips together, clearly not wanting to answer but knowing she has to. In the space of a long heartbeat it is Helena that beats her to the punch. "It means we have to stab her body with the Kryptonite."

"No," Lena whispers after another silent moment, not believing that this the result Barbara has led them to. "That isn't a solution," she says, her voice gaining strength with every word. "That's barbaric. No, no, no, no, no, no."

Barbara does not shrink from the flabbergasted and accusatory gazes pointed in her direction. "Once you analyze the data, if you can come up with a different solution, I'm all ears. This isn't what I wanted to propose."

Lena shakes her head. "This is insane. You're insane," she says vehemently even as she walks out of the command center. No one follows her and she does not expect anyone to. She walks across the expanse of the central area of the DEO to her locker and when she reaches it, she throws it open to grab her handbag. Under the dim fluorescent lighting, she finds the bottle she's looking for. Only for emergencies, she always tells herself and she sticks by those rules. If this isn't an emergency, she doesn't know what is. She opens the bottle and dry swallows a pill. She knows she has a few minutes before it really kicks in. She buries the bottle at the bottom of her handbag, closes the locker, and walks out of the room only to see Alex marching towards her. 

"Hank approved the op," Alex whispers, devastation clear in every word and not really believing what is going to happen to her sister. 

"I can't be there," Lena whispers, praying for understanding.

Alex nods. "Neither can I. What are you going to do?"

Lena narrows her eyes as she feels her depleted energy reserves slowly start to swell. "I'm going to destroy Maxwell Lord."

 

\-- to be concluded in part 2


End file.
